Mission

Mission: To respond thoughtfully and responsibly to my experiences of drinking and dining at restaurants with regard to the quality, service, preparation, presentation and overall experience received thereat. The standpoint is one who respects the crafts of the chef and sommelier and who seeks to understand their choices in the kitchen and cellar and grow in knowledge. In this, I will seek to be fair, reasoned, direct and constructive and aim to keep my ego in check on our mutual journeys through the worlds of food and wine.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Emirates "Fort Knox" of Wine

Another good article from Bloomberg reprinted in the Malaysian Reserve Jan 12th 2017 talking about the top end wines available on Emirates first class flights. The author is James Gaddy.

Seems Emirates began a wine programme 12 years ago to develop "the best wine list in the sky" and has spent about US$500 million so far in doing so. 

The article notes Emirates Senior VP Joost Heymeeijer sharing that the wines have been built up through selective smart and early purchases through the years and stored in a Fort Knox style facility in Burgundy where they are stored until deemed ready for drinking. 

On the planes, the fizz gets served in a larger than normal flute and the wines are decanted into carafes for pouring. Nine million glasses of champagne were poured on Emirates flights in 2016 and it is one of the largest buyers of Dom Perignon in the world. They went long on Yquem 2005 and the customers are sucking it down (though perhaps more for the snob value than the infanticide of drinking any Sauteurnes under 30 years old). 

Other First Class delights include 2000 cases (10% total production) from Corton Charlemagne (Probably 2013 - was bought in 2015), and Super Tuscans Ornellaia and Solaia. Business class passengers must suffer with Tignanello, Stags Leap Chardonnay and Chateau Palmer. O the pain, the pain...


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